UC-NRLF 


GIFT  OF 


GIFT 


FUTURE  OF 

NATURAL  GAS  IN 

OKLAHOMA 


By 
CHAS.  N.  GOULD,  Ph.  D. 

Director  Oklahoma  Geological  Survey 


Future  of  Natural  Gas  in 
Oklahoma 


by 


CHAS.  N.  GOULD,  PH.  D., 

Director    Oklahoma    Geological    Survey. 


Read  fat    the^'Fifth    Annual    Meeting    of    the    Natural    Gas    Association    of 
America,     Oklahoma    City,    Okla.,    May    19,    1910. 


Columbus,  Ohio: 
F.  J.  HEER  PRINTING  COMPANY. 

1910. 


'I   I 


FUTURE  OF  NATURAL  GAS  IN  OKLAHOMA. 

CHAS.  N.  GOULD. 


In  Oklahoma,  as  in  most  other  regions,  natural  gas  is  found 
associated  with  petroleum.  While  it  is  true  that  there  are  in  the 
State  a  few  gas  wells  in  which  the  amount  of  petroleum  produced 
is  negligible,  and  there  are  some  oil  wells  which  produce  but 
little  gas,  the  fact  remains  that  in  at  least  90  per  cent,  of  the 
wells,  both  substances  are  found.  This  is  only  what  might  be 
expected  when  the  nature  of  the  two  products  is  understood. 
Petroleum  and  natural  gas  are  but  two  manifestations  of  the 
same  series  of  chemical  compounds,  one  being  the  gaseous,  the 
other  the  liquid  form.  This  being  true,  it  is  obvious  that  any 
discussion  regarding  the  location  of  natural  gas  must  necessarily 
include  petroleum  also. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  at  this  time  to  enter  into  any  discussion 
regarding  the  origin  of  oil  and  gas.  The  smoke  of  the  battle 
still  hangs  over  us.  Partisans  of  the  chemical  theory  and  of  the 
organic  theory  still  contend  valiantly.  This  matter  does  not  con- 
cern us  today.  We  do  not  care  whether  oil  and  gas  are  formed 
by  the  action  of  hot  water  on  carbides  of  certain  metals,  or 
whether  it  is  the  result  of  long-continued  distillation  of  animal 
and  plant  remains,  which  were  buried  in  the  rocks  in  by-gone 
days.  There  are  just  three  things  which  we,  as  members  of  the 
Natural  Gas  Association  of  America  wish  to  know;  First, 
Where  is  the  gas  located?  second,  How  much  is  there  of  it?  and 
third,  How  can  it  best  be  utilized?  It  is  to  a  brief  discussion  of 
these  three  questions  as  they  relate  to  conditions  in  Oklahoma, 
the  state  which  you  have  today  honored  by  your  presence,  that 
I  'desire  to  call  your  attention. 

First:  Where  in  Oklahoma  has  natural  gas  been  found,  and 
where  may  we  expect  to  find  additional  deposits? 

On  the  upper  right-hand  corner  of  the  map  which  I  have 
placed  in  your  hands,  I  have  attempted  to  indicate  in  a  general 
way  the  location  of  the  oil  and  gas  producing  regions  of  Okla- 
homa. The  cross-barred  area  indicates  what  has  been  called  the- 

3 

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probable  oil  field,  the  region  in  which  oil  and  gas  will  probably 
be  found.  The  area  in  parallel  lines  is  the  possible  oil  field ;  and 
the  solid  black,  the  developed  fields.  By  comparing  this  map 
with  the  map  of  the  coal  fields,  you  can  not  fail  to  notice  that 
the  probable  oil  field  of  Oklahoma  coincides  very  closely  with 
the  coal  field,  extending  from  the  Kansas  line  south  about  as 
far  as  Atoka  and  east  to  the  Arkansas  line.  The  matter  might 
be  stated  differently,  that  is,  it  might  be  said  that  in  Oklahoma, 
oil  and  gas  occur  in  the  Coal  Measures  rocks. 

Coal,  which  is  derived  from  vegetable  matter,  is  found  either 
in  rocks  of  carboniferous  age,  or  in  younger  rocks,  chiefly  cre- 
taceous and  tertiary.  Oil,  which  is  probably  derived  from  both 
plant  and  animal  remains,  is  found  in  rocks  of  practically  all 
geological  ages,  from  the  Cambrian,  the  earliest  of  stratified 
rocks,  up  to  practically  the  latest.  The  oil  of  the  Indiana  field, 
for  instance,  is  found  in  very  old  rocks ;  the  Trenton  formation, 
of  Ordovician  age.  Much  of  the  oil  in  Pennsylvania,  West  Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky  and  eastern  Ohio  comes  from  Devonian  or  Mis- 
sissippian  rocks.  Oil  in  the  Illinois,  Kansas  and  Oklahoma  fields 
comes  from  the  Coal  Measures  rocks.  At  Pueblo,  Colo.,  and 
Corsicana,  Texas,  oil  is  obtained  in  Cretaceous  formations,  while 
the  Beaumont  oil  and  the  oil  in  the  California  fields  comes  from 
Tertiary  rocks,  which  are  of  very  recent  geological  age. 

The  probable  oil  field  in  Oklahoma  coincides,  then  very 
closely  with  the  coal  field.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  greater 
number  of  productive  areas,  indicated  on  the  map  as  solid  black 
lie  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  This  is  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  development  began  at  the  Kansas  line,  and  has  moved 
southward,  slowly  and  methodically.  The  first  wells  were  drilled 
along  the  96th  meridian,  and  in  the  Shallow  field,  so-called, 
farther  east.  At  the  present  time,  the  development  has 
progressed  about  as  far  south  as  Muskogee  and  Okmulgee.  No 
oil  has  as  yet  been  found  in  the  probable  field  south  of  the 
Canadian  river,  but  there  are  geological  reasons  for  believing  that 
within  the  next  few  years,  when  development  has  progressed 
that  far,  some  of  the  most  productive  pools  in  Oklahoma  will 
be  found  in  the  region  between  Atoka  and  the  Arkansas  line.  In 
fact,  it  is  altogether  probable  that  had  development  begun  near 
Atoka,  McAlester  or  Fort  Smith,  only  the  southern  part  of  the 
Oklahoma  field  would  have  been  developed  today,  and  the  Musko- 


gee,  Morris,  Bartlesville,  and  Glenn  fields  would  have  yet  been 
undiscovered. 

The  area  which  is  designated  on  the  map  as  the  possible 
oil  field  of  Oklahoma  lies  west  and  south  of  the  probable  field, 
extending  as  a  belt  from  the  Kansas  line  south  to  the  Arbuckle 
Mountains,  passing  around  these  mountains,  and  east,  north  of 
Red  river,  to  the  Arkansas  line.  There  is  also  a  small  area  sur- 
rounding the  Wichita  mountains.  Within  this  area,  oil  or  gas,  or 
both,  have  been  found,  at  a  number  of  points,  namely  at  Black- 
well  and  Ponca  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State ;  at  Madill  and 
Wheeler,  south  of  the  Arbuckle  mountains,  and  at  Lawton,  Co- 
tebo  and  Granite,  near  the  Wichita  mountains.  It  is  extremely 
probable  that  future  development  in  these  regions  will  reveal 
the  presence  of  a  number  of  additional  pools.  The  chances,  how- 
ever, for  finding  oil  and  gas  in  this  region  are  not  so  good  as  in 
the  region  designated  as  the  probable  oil  field. 

There  are  five  general  regions  in  Oklahoma  in  which  the 
chances  are  not  good  for  finding  oil  and  gas,  namely :  The  cen- 
ters of  the  four  mountain  regions  and  the  great  Redbeds  area 
which  occupies  central  and  western  Oklahoma.  The  Ozark  Up- 
lift in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  State ;  the  Ouachita  mountain 
region  in  the  southeastern  part;  the  Arbuckles  in  the  south  cen- 
tral part  and  the  Wichitas  in  the  southwestern,  show  no  pos- 
sibilities for  oil  or  gas.  In  addition  to  these  four  doubtful  areas, 
it  is  unlikely  that  oil  or  gas  will  ever  be  found  in  quantity  any- 
where in  the  Redbeds.  At  various  times  drilling  has  been  done 
and  a  great  amount  of  money  has  been  spent  in  the  Redbeds  in 
the  central  and  western  counties.  It  has  been  estimated  that 
during  the  last  ten  years  at  least  $25,000  a  year,  or  a  quarter  of  a 
million  dollars  in  all,  has  been  spent  in  drilling  holes  in  the  Red- 
beds in  the  vain  hope  of  finding  oil  or  gas,  and  up  to  the  present 
time,  not  a  dollar  has  ever  come  back. 

The  geology  of  the  oil  and  gas  fields  of  northeastern  Okla- 
homa is  comparatively  simple.  The  rocks  consist  of  a  series  of 
alternating  beds  of  sandstones  and  shales  with  a  few  limestone 
ledges,  belonging  to  the  Coal  Measures  age.  The  greater  part 
of  these  rocks  lie  nearly  level  or  dip  at  low  angles  to  the  west, 
the  average  dip  being  perhaps  20  feet  to  the  mile.  In  certain 
places  this  regular  westward  dip  is  interrupted  by  folds,  that  is, 
anticlines  and  synclines,  which  run  usually  nearly  parallel  to  the 


strike  of  the  rocks;  that  is  to  say  the  axes  of  the  anticlines  and 
synclines  run  nearly  north  and  south.  In  many  places  where 
there  is  no  well  marked  anticline  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  rocks 
instead  of  dipping  west,  lie  nearly  level,  forming  what  is  some- 
times known  as  an  arrested  anticline. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  stop  here  and  explain  to  members  of 
this  association  the  well-known  anticlinal  theory  of  oil  and  gas 
formation,  promulgated  by  Dr.  I.  C.  White,  State  Geologist  of 
West  Virginia,  and  others.  According  to  this  theory  gas  should, 
under  normal  conditions,  be  found  most  abundantly  along  the 
axis  or  crest  of  the  anticline ;  oil  along  the  slopes  of  the  anti- 
cline; while  water,  usually  salt  water,  occurs  in  the  snycline. 

While  it  would  not  be  correct  to  say  that  this  theory  holds 
good  in  all  places  in  Oklahoma,  the  general  statement  may  be 
made  that  the  greater  number  of  the  oil  and  gas  fields  in  northern 
Oklahoma  are  in  regions  where  the  normal  westward  dip  of  the 
rocks  has  been  interrupted.  In  many  fields,  as  for  instance, 
near  Bartlesville  and  in  the  Glenn  Pool,  there  is  a  well-marked 
anticline.  Some  three  years  ago,  I  had  the  privilege  of  standing 
with  Dr.  White  on  one  of  the  isolated  knobs  near  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Glenn  Pool  not  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the  Ida 
Glenn  lease,  from  which  the  pool  takes  its  name,  and  with  him 
tracing  out  the  location  of  the  axis  of  the  anticline  along  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  strongest  gas  wells  in  the  pool  occur. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  oil  and  gas  fields  in  Oklahoma 
where  the  geological  structure  is  more  obscure  and  where  there 
are  no  anticlines  which  may  be  observed  from  the  surface. 

Another  factor  which  must  always  be  taken  into  consider- 
ation in  Oklahoma,  as  well  as  other  known  oil  fields,  is  the 
shape  and  lithologic  character  of  the  oil  and  gas-bearing  sands. 
If  the  sand  is  thin,  it  can  hold  but  little  oil  or  gas ;  if  it  is  thick, 
it  can  hold  much  larger  deposits.  If  the  sand  is  fine-grained  and 
practically  impervious,  but  little  oil  or  gas  can  pass  through  it. 
If  it  is  coarse-grained  and  porous,  large  amounts  of  oil  or  gas 
may  be  stored  up.  So  that  other  things  being  equal,  the  thicker 
the  sand  and  the  more  porous  the  material,  the  larger  the  amount 
of  oil  or  gas  contained  therein.  Thin  beds  of  fine-grained  sand 
can  carry  but  little  if  any,  oil  or  gas.  From  this  it  will  be 
readily  understood  that  the  most  prolific  oil  or  gas  fields  must 
necessarily  occur  in  regions  where  a  thick  bed  of  porous  sand  is 


located  along  an  anticline.  These  conditions  seem  to  obtain  at 
Glenn  Pool,  where  the  sand  is  more  than  100  feet  thick,  as  well 
as  at  Bartlesville,  in  the  Muskogee  field,  and  at  a  number  of 
other  prominent  fields  in  the  State.  Wherever  a  pumpkin-seed- 
shaped  bed  of  porous  sand  occurs  in  a  region  where  the  rocks 
either  lie  level  or  where  there  is  a  pronounced  dip  to  the  east, 
oil  and  gas  have  usually  been  found.  On  the  other  hand,  in  sev- 
eral cases,  dry  sands  of  considerable  thickness  have  been  found 
along  anticlines,  while  along  others  only  thin  sands  carrying  a 
small  amount  of  oil  have  been  encountered. 

All  this  is  to  say  that  while  a  geologist  may  often  be  of  some 
practical  benefit  to  the  oil  man  in  the  matter  of  eliminating  risk 
and  indicating  the  locality  where  not  to  drill,  he  can  never  be 
absolutely  certain  that  oil  or  gas,  or  in  fact,  any  other  mineral, 
exists  beneath  the  surface.  The  only  way  to  determine  certainly 
the  presence  of  these  substances  is  to  drill. 

Even  if  no  drilling  had  ever  been  done  in  Oklahoma,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  argue  the  presence  of  oil  or  gas  beneath 
the  surface.  There  are  a  number  of  places  in  the  State  where 
asphalt,  the  residuum  of  petroleum,  appears  on  the  surface.  Sev- 
eral of  these  localities  are  in  northeastern  Oklahoma  at  points 
where  we  now  know  that  oil  and  gas-bearing  sands  appear  on  the 
surface.  Asphalt  occurs  in  considerable  quantities  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Arbuckle  mountains  also,  for  instance,  near  Ada,  where 
lower  Carboniferous  rocks  approach  the  surface. 

Burning  springs  are  found  in  several  parts  of  the  State, 
the  most  notable  being  in  northeastern  Pittsburg  county,  some  20 
miles  northeast  of  McAlester.  At  this  point,  gas  escapes  over  an 
area  of  perhaps  300  square  feet,  along  a  little  ravine.  It  issues 
from  crevices  in  the  soil  and  among  the  rocks,  and  when  set  on 
fire  often  continues  burning  for  weeks  and  even  months.  It  is 
extremely  significant  that  this  spring  is  located  near  the  crest 
of  an  anticline.  Drilling  near  this  burning  spring,  has.  however, 
revealed  no  oil  and  but  a  small  quantity  of  gas. 

The  geologist  well  understands  that  oil  springs  and  gas  es- 
caping on  the  surface  usually  means  that  the  chances  are  not 
good  for  finding  a  large  amount  of  the  material  at  hand.  If  the 
spring  occurs  along  an  anticline,  it  frequently  means  that  the  rocks 
have  been  fractured  and  the  material  now  escaping  has  been 
escaping  for  a  long  time  and  is,  therefore,  practically  exhausted. 


8 

If  found  in  a  region  of  gently  tilted  rock,  it  indicates  that  the 
hydrocarbon  has  been  carried  for  a  considerable  distance,  prob- 
ably for  several  miles  along  the  bedding  plane,  and  that  drilling 
should  be  done  at  some  point  other  than  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
spring.  These  facts,  however,  are  not  always  understood  by  the 
so-called  practical  oil  driller,  and  much  money  has  been  spent 
in  Oklahoma  in  attempting  to  find  oil  or  gas  near  oil  springs  or 
gas  vents. 

In  Oklahoma,  as  in  other  states,  the  natural  mound  hal- 
lucination is  prevalent.  Throughout  a  number  of  the  eastern 
counties,  the  flat  prairies  and  even  the  wooded  areas  are  often 
dotted  with  small  natural  mounds,  varying  in  size  up  to  50  feet 
in  diameter  and  often  3  or  4  feet  in  height.  The  superstition 
that  these  mounds  in  some  way  indicate  the  presence  of  gas  is 
wide-spread.  They  are  called  gas  blows  or  gas  mounds,  and 
many  people  really  believe  that  a  well  put  down  in  the  middle 
of  one  of  these  mounds  will  encounter  gas.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  this  notion  has  no  foundation  in  fact  and  whatever 
may  be  the  origin  of  these  natural  mounds,  they  are  not  con- 
nected in  any  way  with  any  deep-seated  supply  of  gas. 

Second:  This  brings  us  to  the  second  division  of  our  sub- 
ject; namely,  How  much  natural  gas  is  there  in  Oklahoma? 
The  answer  is  easy.  Nobody  knows. 

All  that  we  can  say  is  that  the  deposits  are  enormous,  but  at 
the  present  time  there  are  not  sufficient  data  to  enable  us  to 
estimate  accurately  their  possible  amount.  Practically  every  oil 
well  so  far  drilled  in  the  State  produces  gas,  while  at  the  same 
time  many  of  the  strongest  gas  wells  do  not  contain  oil.  The 
daily  capacity  of  an  Oklahoma  gas  well  varies  from  a  few  cubic 
feet  per  day  up  to  millions  of  cubic  feet.  The  average  sized 
well  in  the  Tulsa  or  Bartlesville  region  runs  all  the  way  from 
1,000,000  to  10,000,000  cubic  feet  per  day.  Wells  in  various 
parts  of  the  State  have  been  reported  to  produce  40,000,000 ;  50,- 
000,000  and  even  60,000,000  cubic  feet  per  day. 

According  to  the  statistics  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  there  were,  at  the  close  of  1908,  474  gas  wells  in  Okla- 
homa. This  is  probably  not  more  than  half  the  actual  number 
now  in  existence.  Gas  wells  are  strung  all  along  the  Q6th  meridian 
from  the  Kansas  line  to  Henryetta.  Some  of  the  strongest  wells 
with  a  capacity  running  up  into  the  tens  of  millions  of  feet  per 


day  are  located  in  the  Shallow  field,  the  Morris  field,  the  Bald 
Hill  field  and  the  Muskogee  field,  while  other  wells  equally  good 
are  located  at  Wainwright,  Pawhuska  and  in  the  Preston  PooL 
Smaller  amounts  have  been  found  in  dozens  of  localities  scat- 
tered everywhere  throughout  the  field. 

Any  estimate  of  the  amount  of  gas  actually  in  sight  in 
Oklahoma  is  little  better  than  a  guess.  There  are  no  accurate 
data  and  even  an  approximation  may  of  necessity  be  misleading. 
Taking  into  account  all  known  facts,  however,  and  estimating 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  amount  from  the  various  wells,  including 
those  now  being  utilized,  those  shut  in,  and  those  going  to  waste, 
the  amount  of  gas  already  discovered  in  Oklahoma  should  be 
somewhere  between  1,500,000,000  and  3,000,000,000  cubic  feet 
per  day.  A  conservative  approximation  would  probably  be  2,- 
000,000,000  cubic  feet  daily. 

But  if  we  attempt  to  go  a  step  further  from  a  conjecture 
as  to  the  amount  of  gas  which  may  yet  be  discovered  in  Okla- 
homa, we  are  at  once  confronted  with  the  inadequacy  of  lan- 
guage and  the  paucity  of  figures.  Those  of  us  who  have  traveled 
over  the  developed  fields  of  Oklahoma,  studying  the  problem 
from  a  scientific  standpoint,  believe  that  at  the  present  time  not 
one-fifth,  or  possibly  not  one-tenth  of  the  gas  in  those  fields  has 
yet  been  touched.  In  many  cases  only  a  single  well  to  the  square 
mile  has  been  drilled  in  search  of  oil.  Gas  having  been  found, 
for  which  there  is  no  demand,  the  entire  territory  has  been  con- 
demned, and  the  field  abandoned.  Possibly  the  well  has  been 
plugged,  but  most  likely  it  still  stands  open,  permitting  the 
escape  of  the  gas. 

Now  from  a  study  of  the  map  it  will  be  seen  that  not 
one-tenth,  of  the  probable  gas  field  of  the  State  has  been  de- 
veloped. In  the  region  south  of  Muskogee  and  Okmulgee  there 
has  been  practically  no  drilling  as  yet,  but  this  is  a  region  in 
which  the  geologist  believes  that  there  should  be  vast  untapped 
reserves  of  gas  and  oil.  Even  the  geologist  with  his  well- 
known  inclination  to  estimate  things  in  hundreds  of  millions, 
stands  aghast  before  the  unknown  possibilities  of  the  future 
development  of  the  Oklahoma  gas  field. 

Natural  gas  is  now  being  utilized  to  a  limited  extent  for 
manufacturing  and  domestic  purposes  in  the  region  in  which  it 
is  produced.  Such  towns  as  Bartlesville,  Dewey,  Cleveland,  Col- 


10 

linsville,  Mounds,  Wagoner,  Claremore,  Morris,  Boynton,  Wann, 
Blackwell,  Chelsea,  Bigheart,  Pawhuska,  Taneha,  Ochelata,  Ra- 
mona,  Tulsa,  Skiatook,  Nowata,  Talala,  Lenapah,  Sapulpa,  Ok- 
mulgee,  Muskogee,  Ponca  and  Coweta  use  gas,  produced  usually 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  city,  for  lighting  and  heating  purposes. 
In  a  number  of  cases,  gas  is  used  for  industrial  purposes.  For 
instance,  Bartlesville  has  zinc  smelters,  Dewey  has  a  Portland 
cement  mill  and  a  number  of  towns  in  the  gas  fields  have  brick 
plants  that  use  gas.  A  pipe  line  from  the  Tulsa-Gfenn  Pool 
region  supplies  Oklahoma  City,  Edmond,  Guthrie,  Chandler  and 
Shawnee.  Ardmore  uses  gas  piped  from  the  Wheeler  field  20 
miles  distant. 

The  price  of  fuel  varies  directly  with  the  distance  it  has  to 
be  piped.  In  Tulsa  and  Bartlesville,  to  cite  two  examples,  where 
the  gas  is  produced  near  at  hand,  prices  are  about  ten  cents  per 
thousand  cubic  feet  for  domestic  use  and  two  to  four  cents  for 
manufacturing  purposes.  Several  towns  in  this  region  have  ad- 
vertised two  cent  gas  and  one  and  one-half  cent  gas  for  factories. 
In  Oklahoma  City,  where  the  gas  is  piped  over  a  hundred  miles, 
the  price  is  twenty-five  cents  per  thousand  for  domestic  use  and 
ten  cents  for  factory  use. 

It  is  obviously  impossible  to  accurately  estimate  the  life  of 
the  oil  and  gas  fields  of  Oklahoma.  Ordinarily  these  substances 
are  exhausted  within  a  few  years  after  the  reservoir  containing 
them  has  been  tapped.  It  is  well  known  that  the  life  of  the  or- 
dinary oil  well  or  gas  well  does  not  usually  exceed  five  years.  Some 
of  the  wells  are  exhausted  in  a  year  or  two,  others  produce  a 
small  quantity  of  oil  for  ten.  twenty,  or  even  forty  years.  Some 
of  the  first  wells  drilled  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  late  6o's  are  still 
producing.  On  the  other  hand,  the  famous  Beaumont  field, 
which  was  at  one  time  the  wonder  of  the  world,  is  now  prac- 
tically exhausted.  The  Indiana  gas  field  is  nearly  exhausted. 
Many  of  the  first  wells  drilled  in  southern  Kansas  and  northern 
Oklahoma,  have  already  ceased  to  produce  oil  or  gas  in  paying 
quantities. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  as  I  have  already 
stated,  only  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  oil  and  gas  region  of 
Oklahoma  has  ever  been  prospected  and  a  still  smaller  part 
developed.  There  is  enough  prospective  territory  untouched  in 
Oklahoma  to  keep  the  drillers  busy  for  the  next  fifty  years. 


v      '''"''•" 

II 

Counting  fifty  years  more  for  the  life  of  the  last  wells  brought 
in,  and  assuming  that  the  greater  part  of  the  gas  will  be  utilized 
and  not  permitted  to  go  to  waste,  we  may  approximate  100  years 
as  the  life  of  the  oil  and  gas  field  of  Oklahoma.  This  estimate 
is  probably  under,  rather  than  over  the  actual  time  limit. 

At  a  conservative  estimate  not  to  exceed  10  per  cent.,  pos- 
sibly not  more  than  5  per  cent,  of  the  gas  so  far  discovered  is 
now  being  utilized.  Part  of  it  is  shut  in  waiting  a  chance  for 
utilization,  but  much  of  it  is  going  to  waste.  One  can  not  drive 
anywhere  through  the  gas  field  of  northeastern  Oklahoma  with- 
out being  shocked  at  the  prodigal  waste  of  fuel  now  going  on. 
In  hundreds  of  places,  gas  is  'permitted  to  burn  day  and  night 
without  ceasing.  Scores  of  wells  are  permitted  to  flow  un- 
checked, and  this  priceless  fuel  is  being  dissipated  into  the  air.  A 
law  which  was  passed  by  the  last  legislature,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  attempt  to  conserve  the  natural  gas,  has  done  much  to 
check  this  waste,  but  in  many  sections  it  is  yet  more  honored 
in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance.  At  the  present  time  in 
Oklahoma  a  vast  amount,  possibly  hundreds  of  millions  of  cubic 
feet  a  day  of  the  best  fuel  the  world  has  ever  known,  is  permitted 
to  escape  into  the  air. 

In  territorial  days  little  attempt  was  made  to  save  the  gas. 
To  cite  but  one  instance  out  of  a  hundred;  when  gas  was  first 
encountered  in  Bartlesville,  it  was  permitted  to  escape  unchecked. 
The  roaring  of  the  gas  was  so  persistent  that  people  in  the  town 
could  not  sleep  at  night,  and  so  the  gas  was  carried  in  pipes  out- 
side of  the  city  limits,  where  it  might  escape  without  the  noise 
disturbing  the  sleepers. 

The  following  paragraph  from  a  current  periodical  will  give 
some  idea  of  present  conditions  in  the  State. 

"The  party  took  a  run  down  to  the  new  Preston  oil  field. 
While  there  accurate  measurements  were  made  of  the  gas  well 
recently  brought  in,  and  it  was  shown  to  be  good  for  36,000,000 
cubic  feet  per  day.  This  is  the  largest  gas  well  ever  developed 
in  the  southern  Creek  country  and  one  of  the  largest  that  has 
been  completed  recently  in  Oklahoma.  Its  magnitude  was  a  sur- 
prise, even  to  the  owners  of  the  w*ll.  It  has  been  running  wild 
ever  since  it  was  brought  in  and  the  roar  of  the  escaping  gas 
can  be  heard  for  miles.  The  owners  are  purposely  allowing  the 


12 

gas  to  go  to  waste  with  the  belief  that  the  well  will  finally  drill 
itself  into  oil." 

The  following  quotation  from  a  letter  written  April  4th, 
1910,  by  a  member  of  your  association  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
situation  from  the  view  point  of  a  practical  gas  man : 

"There  are  millions  of  feet  of  natural  gas  going  to  waste 
in  this  State,  due  largely  to  carelessness  and  neglect  by  the 
many  producers  in  drilling  for  oil.  It  seems  their  sole  aim  is 
to  drill  through  the  gas  bearing  strata  in  order  to  secure  the  oil, 
as  the  oil  can  be  marketed  more  readily  and  the  gas  has  a  very 
limited  market.  While  this  is  being  done  the  gas  is  allowed  to  go 
to  waste;  in  fact  very  little  attention  is  paid  to  it.  In  many 
cases  the  well  is  drilled  into  salt  water,  which  destroys  it  entirely 
as  a  gas  well.  Only  recently  in  the  new  Hamilton  Switch  pool 
there  have  been  no  less  than  fifty  to  seventy  million  cubic  feet 
of  gas  blowing  away,  in  fact,  enough  to  supply  the  whole  state 
of  Oklahoma,  every  day,  with  apparently  no  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  producer  to  prevent  it.  There  are  some  of  the  wells  in 
this  Pool  which  came  in  having  a  capacity  as  large  as  36,000,000 
cubic  feet  per  day.  We  feel  that  the  gas  is  just  as  marketable 
and  valuable  a  product  as  the  oil  and  that  a  well  which  is  drilled 
in  having  a  capacity  of  from  two  to  four  million  cubic  feet  per 
day  should  be  shut  in  to  save  the  gas,  as  it  looks  like  a  crime 
to  allow  the  gas  to  go  to  waste  in  this  manner." 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  some  really  effective  plan 
has  not  been  devised  to  curtail  the  prodigal  waste  of  this  valuable 
fuel,  which  has  been  going  on  in  eastern  Oklahoma  for  the  past 
ten  years,  and  which  is  still  in  progress.  For  this  there  is  no 
excuse  except  the  cupidity  of  man.  The  well  having  been  drilled, 
in  search  of  oil,  and  gas  having  been  encountered,  for  which 
there  is  no  immediate  demand,  it  is  easier  to  pull  the  tools,  letting 
the  well  stand  open,  permitting  the  escape  of  the  gas,  than  it  is  to 
plug  the  well.  In  many  cases,  as  the  one  above  cited,  a  gas  well 
with  a  capacity  of  many  millions  of  cubic  feet  per  day  is  per- 
mitted to  flow  unchecked  in  the  hope  that  it  will  some  day  drill 
into  oil.  In  scores  of  instances  wells  which  produce  ten  or 
twenty  barrels  of  oil  and  say  5,000,000  or  10,000,000  cubic  feet  of 
gas  a  day  are  permitted  to  flow  unchecked.  The  gas  is  all  wasted 
to  save  the  small  amount  of  oil.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
6000  cubic  feet  of  gas  has  a  fuel  value  equivalent  to  a  barrel  of 


13 
i 

oil,  it  will  be  understood  that  6,000,000  cubic  feet  of  gas  equals 
a  thousand  barrels  of  oil.  So  in  the  case  cited  the  equivalent  of 
looo  barrels  of  oil,  is  permitted  to  go  to  waste  each  day  in  order 
to  save  ten  or  twenty  barrels.  For  these  reasons,  Oklahoma  is 
day  after  day  losing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of 
valuable  fuel,  which  should  be  saved  for  future  generations. 
This  waste  is  nothing  short  of  criminal,  and  it  is  high  time  that 
the  people  of  Oklahoma,  as  of  other  gas-producing  states,  were 
awakening  to  a  realization  of  conditions. 

One  point  should  be  clearly  kept  in  mind,  namely,  that  these 
fuels,  once  gone,  are  gone  forever.  You  may  take  all  the  water 
from  a  well  and  the  rainfall  will  restore  the  water.  You  may 
exhaust  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  but  by  careful  cropping  and 
fertilizing,  the  fertility  may  be  renewed.  You  may  cut  down  the 
forests,  and  new  forests  will  grow,  but  when  you  take  from  the 
earth  the  minerals,  the  oil,  the  gas,  the  coal,  contained  therein 
these  minerals  are  never  replaced. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  a 
statement  made  by  Dr.  White  at  the  congress  of  governors  at 
Washington  two  years  ago: 

"For  just  as  sure  as  the  sun  shines,  and  the  sum  of  two 
and  two  is  four,  unless  this  insane  riot  of  destruction  and  waste 
of  our  fuel  resources  which  has  characterized  the  past  century 
shall  be  speedily  ended,  our  industrial  power  and  supremacy, 
will,  after  a  meteor-like  existence,  revert,  before  the  close  of 
the  present  century,  to  those  nations  that  conserve  and  prize  at 
their  proper  value  their  priceless  treasures  of  carbon." 

Third:    How  may  this  vast  amount  of  fuel  be  best  utilized? 

By  referring  again  to  the  maps  showing  the  distribution  of 
the  mineral  resources  of  the  State,  and  comparing  these  with  the 
oil  and  gas  map,  you  can  but  note  the  proximity  of  the  gas  belt 
to  most  of  the  other  minerals.  Now  by  referring  to  the  chart 
showing  the  approximate  abundance  of  the  minerals,  you  may 
be  able  to  form  some  idea  as  to  the  ultimate  utilization  of  our 
gas. 

Oklahoma  is  rich  in  mineral.  Few  states  surpass  us  either  in 
variety  or  amount.  But  today  this  mineral  lies  dormant  in  our 
hills  and  not  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  it  is  being  utilized. 
We,  in  Oklahoma,  use  Kansas  brick,  tile,  cement  and  salt;  Ar- 
kansas and  Texas  alike;  Vermont  marble;  Scotch  granite;  Texas 


14 

gypsum  plaster;  Indiana  and  Missouri  limestone;  Illinois  glass 
sand,  and  asphalt  from  the  oil  refineries,  and  we  pay  the  freight 
on  all  of  it,  although  we  have  inexhaustible  deposits  of  all  these 
materials  in  our  own  hills.  The  reasons  for  importing  these  pro- 
ducts are  obvious.  The  other  states  have  their  mines  and 
quarries  opened  already,  and  their  plants  established,  while  we 
have  not. 

Oklahoma  is  the  baby  state.  There  are  nearly  two  million 
of  us  here  and  we  are  all  from  somewhere.  I'm  from  Ohio. 
My  next  door  neighbor  is  from  Texas,  and  the  man  across  the 
street  hails  from  Wisconsin,  while  his  neighbor  is  from  North 
Carolina.  We  came  here  of  our  own  volition  because  we  knew 
that  Oklahoma  had  the  makings  of  the  grandest  state  of  the 
Union.  We  understood  when  we  came  that  we  were  coming 
to  a  new  state  and  so  we  are  willing  to  endure  pioneer  conditions 
just  as  long  as  necessary,  but  no  longer.  We  are  proud  of  the 
fact  that  no  equal  area  that  the  sun  shines  upon  has  made  such 
rapid  advancement  in  the  same  length  of  time  as  has  Oklahoma 
in  the  past  five  years,  and  we  are  yet  only  fairly  started.  Get 
out  of  the  way  and  watch  us  grow,  or  better  still,  cast  your  lot 
with  us  and  help  us  grow. 

We  are  trying  to  keep  our  gas  at  home.  We  need  it.  It  is 
true  that  we  have  been  wasting  it  about  as  fast  as  we  could,  but 
at  the  same  time,  we  don't  want  you  alls  to  take  any  of  it  away. 
What  we  do  want  is  for  you  to  locate  factories  here  that  will 
utilize  our  fuel.  We  have  a  plenty  and  to  spare.  If  the  gas  fields 
are  ever  exhausted,  we  have  a  few  billion  tons  of  coal  to  fall 
back  on.  (The  United  States  Geological  Survey  says  we  have 
75,000,000,000  tons)  but  we  are  not  worried  about  the  gas  failing 
for  several  years  yet.  But  right  in  the  gas  fields  or  within  short 
piping  distance,  there  are  inexhaustible  deposits  of  as  good  clay 
as  that  found  in  Ohio  or  New  Jersey.;  of  as  fine  glass  sand  as 
that  of  Illinois  or  Pennsylvania ;  of  Portland  cement  rock  as  good 
as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  There  is  also  limestone 
for  burning  into  lime;  lead  and  zinc  deposits  among  the  most 
prolific  on  the  continent,  besides  sandstone,  marble,  granite  and 
asphalt,  all  in  enormous  quantities.  A  little  farther  away,  there 
are  123,000,000,000  tons  of  gypsum,  and  salt  water  enough  going 
to  waste  to  make  100  car  loads  of  salt  a  day. 

We  need  these  things  developed.     We  must  have  them  de- 


15 

\ 

veloped  before  Oklahoma  comes  to  her  own,  and  we  believe 
that  if  we  can  keep  our  gas  at  home  the  development  will  come 
all  the  sooner.  If  the  gas  is  piped  out  of  the  State,  Oklahoma 
will  derive  very  little  benefit  from  it.  If  it  is  utilized  at  home, 
it  means  the  establishment  here  of  hundreds  of  industrial  plants 
and  factories  and  the  opening  of  scores  of  mines  and  quarries,  all 
of  which  go  toward  the  development  of  our  State. 

Are  we  selfish?  Perhaps  so.  Are  we  playing  dog  in  the 
manger?  We  do  not  think  so.  What  we  are  trying  to  do  is  to 
devise  the  most  effective  means  of  developing  in  the  shortest 
possible  time,  our  enormous  natural  resources.  We  have  the 
mineral  wealth  and  the  fuel  for  its  manufacture  Come  in  with 
us  and  help  us  to  make  Oklahoma  great. 


UNIVEESITY  OF  CALIFOENIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


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fEB 


10m-12,'23 


